Incinerating waste is a known alternative to burying waste or transporting it to another location. In order to reduce ash and smoke released during waste incineration (particulate release), a flow of high velocity air has been used to provide an “air curtain” over a fire pit or firebox in which the waste is burned. U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,756,258 and 5,415,113 describe portable apparatus for air curtain incineration. The former patent teaches a fan and manifold assembly that can towed to the edge of a fire pit, such as may be found at a landfill site. The latter patent teaches a firebox apparatus including a fan and manifold assembly mounted on a support skid for transport on a flatbed truck to a desired site, for example a development site where vegetation is being cleared.
Neither of the portable solutions mentioned above is suitable for use in a congested urban environment. The apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 4,756,258 requires a fire pit, something which is not available or readily provided in an urban setting where subterranean utility infrastructure is covered by pavement or concrete. The apparatus of U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,113 must be lifted from and loaded onto a flatbed truck by a crane or lift, making it difficult and disruptive to install in crowded or confined locations.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,063,027 discloses a portable air-curtain incinerator that suffers the same portability drawback as the incinerator disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,415,113.
What is needed is a portable firebox apparatus that loads onto and unloads from a transport vehicle having a conventional tiltable roll-off hoist and tension cable, such that the firebox apparatus may be transported to an urban environment and unloaded in a confined space, and later loaded back onto the transport vehicle, with relative ease.